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My latest article, Explaining Myanmar’s Regime Transition: The Periphery is Central, has now been published early-online by Democratization. It is an open-access article so it is free to download. Here’s the abstract: In 2010, Myanmar (Burma) held its first elections after 22 years of direct military rule. Few compelling explanations for this regime transition have emerged. […]

Earlier this month I visited Timor-Leste to help brief government and civil society actors on ASEAN. I spent a few days travelling around thanks to Christine Cabasset and the UNTL and thought it might be interesting to record a few thoughts and share some images. For those who are unaware, Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) was […]

I was on Monocle 24 again last night discussing some news from Asia. You can listen to the segment here; it starts about 1hr40mins in. Here were the stories covered: Official manipulation adds 10 per cent to China’s GDP – SCMP Half of Hongkongers oppose Occupy Central’s campaign for universal suffrage – SCMP Sushi-go-round – […]

My new article has appeared ‘early online‘ in the Journal of Contemporary Asia. Here is the abstract. Since holding elections in 2010, Myanmar has transitioned from a direct military dictatorship to a formally democratic system and has embarked on a period of rapid economic reform. After two decades of military rule, the pace of change […]

Today I participated in a debate on the merits of international economic sanctions on Voice of Russia radio, with David Patrikarakos, Antonios Tzanakopoulos (University College, London) and Dmitry Babich (VoR correspondent). You can listen to the debate here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I’ve recently been doing some media commentary on events in Burma/ Myanmar. A few days ago I made my first appearance on live television, on BBC World TV, to discuss UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon’s visit to Burma, what this told us about the reform process, and the likely consequences for Western sanctions. Today I […]

A freedom of information (FOI) request by tobacco giant Philip Morris for the data behind an academic study on teenage smoking habits recently caused considerable outcry. Naturally, the company was seen as trying to subvert the research for its own nefarious purposes and Stirling University consequently resisted. They should not have. Not because FOI itself […]

Last night I spoke at the Institute of Ideas’ Current Affairs Forum on Wikileaks. Here is the blurb for the event: A wicked leak of state secrets? Transparency, power and the diplomatic cables The Wikileaks revelations have not just been in the news for the past months, they have been the news. Since the latest […]

On 6 March I wrote an email to the president of St John’s College, Oxford, regarding the visit of the Thai prime minister, who is scheduled to give a talk on the ‘challenges of democracy’ on 14 March. In it, I expressed concern that Prime Minister Abhisit was perhaps not the most appropriate person to […]